Grinding machines are known in the food processing industries. It is widely known that some grinding machines can convert cuts of meat, trimmings, and/or other meat stock into ground meat products. This can be done by way of rotating knives that scrape across a front surface of an orifice plate while the cuts of meat and/or trimmings are pushed through orifices that extend longitudinally through the thickness of the orifice plate, such as by operation of an auger. Some orifice plates include conically tapered orifices in which entry openings of the orifices at the front surface of the orifice plate are larger than exit openings of the orifices at an opposing back surface of the orifice plate.